Connect

Poison

Sometimes the well must be poisoned to prove a point. The most delightful part of being a well-adapted psychopath is the ability to constantly portray a kind or compassionate persona while hiding my true intentions behind my mask. To the outsider, I may appear as an honest, ethical, endearing person. That is their mistake. In order to play the game well, “meaningful” human interactions and relationships must be built in order to establish rapport in direct opposition to any psychopathic traits. Sure, brute force and well-crafted intimidation may go far in swaying people to do your will (in whatever form that may take), but building a rapport, under false pretense, of trustworthiness and empathy can be much more effective. The psychopath wearing his mask well can be much more successful than the one that does not. The ideal rapport can lead to character assassination and “poisoning the well” much more effectively than trying to the same if viewed through a lens of scrutiny and repugnance.

Quite possibly the ultimate in revenge is to destroy a person’s reputation. By maintaining that persona described above, people are much more adept to believe what you say. Play the role of the victim. Sell it. Own it. The more people see you, the kind and caring person, as a victim, the more intently they will listen to your words. Ultimately what you say may be true, but that is beside the point. The point is that if you are going to play the game perfectly, you must use people’s emotions and naivety against them. The psychopath’s charisma certainly helps here as well.

I remember a time, long ago, that someone decided that they wanted to intimidate me. Intimidating a psychopath is a terrible idea. We do not respond to threats kindly. Our “poor emotional response” also means that the magnitude of our reaction will, quite possibly, exceed greatly the magnitude of the original offense. Because the intimidation would be easily apparent and verifiable to anyone around me, I began to craft a narrative that would only lead to her character assassination. I was the victim, playing the role quite adeptly, and took advantage of the empathy of anyone that would listen. By the time the role-playing was done and I had moved on, the destruction was total. Her reputation was ruined and her effectiveness in platonic relationships was ruined in those appropriate circles.

I do hope that I am less ruinous in the future; that I come to realize that I can fill the humanity I am missing by showing restraint. However, part of the story lies in my actions in the past. I am not above poisoning the well and it is, especially if you’ve the rapport, a fantastic way to exact revenge. No one ever thought that I was pulling strings because they had never seen an “immoral” side of me. No one could have expected the damage done. I slipped in, opened my vial, and vanished into the night, never to be seen again. The echoes of the destruction I left are more than enough to soothe this black soul.